Lake County Republican Women’s Club

REPUBLICAN WOMEN – National, State, & Local Clubs.

Founded in 1938, the NFRW has thousands of active members in local clubs across the nation and in several U.S. territories, making it one of the largest women’s political organizations in the country. The grassroots organization recruits and elects Republican candidates, advocates the Party’s philosophy and initiatives, and empowers women in the political process.

SUPPORTING HEALTHY FAMILIES AND PATHWAYS TO PROSPERITY

LCRW supports healthy families and pathways to prosperity upon which this country was founded; we work for the election of Republican candidates.

LAKE COUNTY REPUBLICAN WOMEN’S CLUB

We promote an informed electorate
We increase the effectiveness of women in the cause of good government through active participation
We facilitate cooperation among Republican Women’s Clubs
We work for the election of Republican candidates
We promote the principles of freedom, equality and justice upon which the government of this county is founded

LCRWC Officers

Kathy Shore, President

kthy_shore@yahoo.com

Julie Reffner, Vice President

jmreffner@protonmail.com

Sherry Nelson, Secretary

fredandsherry4525@gmail.com

Linda Stewart, Treasurer

stewartlinda.ls@gmail.com

Cynthia Waterman, Membership Chair

Drcjwaterman63@icloud.com

Mailing address:

Lake County Republican Women, PO Box 174, Polson, MT 59860

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Central Committee Chair, Tracy Sharp, hands Dorothy Ashcraft, President of Lake County Republican Women, a well deserved award in February 2024

(Photo by Susan Lake)

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Dear Members and Friends,If you haven’t had a chance to renew your membership please consider doing so or joining if you haven’t already done so.You may send your membership to our treasurer or bring it to our meeting.Please disregard if you have already renewed.Sincerely,Cynthia Waterman, Membership

Membership Invitation

Print the membership form from here: 2024 Membership Form.

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Agenda for April 7 meeting: LCRW Agenda April 7

Meeting Minutes March 3, 2025

LCRW meeting notes March 3rd, 2025

Meeting Minutes February 3, 2025

The meeting was called to order by Kathy Shore, President

An Invocation was led by Kathy and the Pledge of Allegiance followed.

The January minutes were approved by unanimous consent.

Treasury Report:Jan. Donations – memberships 500.00

VFW donation (Watch Party)** 200.00

Pachyderm Sound System 433.00

checks 41.00

Ending Balance 10,162.00

**Raised $730.00 in donations for LCRCC

Guests: James Kosiewicz and daughter Abigail

Speaker: ‘Doc’ Chung spoke on the history of our Gold Star Mothers.

At the library on March 8^th there will be a book signing with Doc for

his book “Face of the Enemy”

Old Business: There were some discussions on the 2024 Lincoln Reagan dinner,

Headquarters, and flagwaving. The next L.R. dinner is 9-14-2025.

New Business: Review of finances – good – nothing outstanding

2025 ideas – Cherry Festival, Parade, Flagwaving, L.R. dinner

Write letter for John Mercer by Feb. 12^th

Our Speaker for March will be Michael Hewston from “Click Here Designs”

Comments: There were 16 attendees at this meeting.

Susan L. informed us about a Legislative Update on March 12^th at 6:30

at the Ronan Community Center.

The next meeting for the LCRW will be held on Monday March 3^rd at the library.

Meeting adjourned at 12:55

Meeting Minutes January 6, 2025

The meeting was called to order by Kathy Shore, President

An Invocation was led by Kathy and the Pledge of Allegiance followed.

The minutes for December were approved unanimously.

Treasury Report: “Linda is working on it” She will be going to the bank on Tuesday to make changes.

Guest Speaker: Commissioner Gale Decker spoke about the creation of Lake County and the

issues in comparisons of our county to other counties.

He plans on giving this same presentation at the next Pachyderm meeting.

Old Business: Several members have paid their dues for 2025

A motion to accept the updated By-Laws was passed unanimously

New Business: Those attending the Inauguration Watch Party at the VFW on January 20^th,

please bring food.

Motion was granted to donate $200.00 to the VFW.

Come prepared for February mtg to discuss what did, and what did not work, in 2024.

Evelyn Cahalen, District 1 Director for MTFRW, is planning to attend our

Feb. 3^rd meeting.

Comments: There were 13 attendees at this meeting

A Thank-you note sent to Commissioner Decker

The next meeting for the LCRW will be held on Monday February 3^rd at the Library.

Meeting Adjourned at 1:00

Meeting Minutes December 9, 2024

The meeting was called to order by Dorothy Ashcraft, President

Attendees were future and outgoing board members

Treasury Report: Over $10,000.00 in account

By Laws: Numerous changes were made to several of the articles and

approved unanimously.

Keys for the P.O. box were given to Kathy Shore, incoming President.

Name changes are in transition for the checking account.

New Business: End of year party December 27th Mission Bay Club House

Fundraiser Inauguration Day January 20th 2025

Julie will send e-mails to see if there is interest

Discussed possible future speakers for 2025

Next Meeting: January 6, 2025

Adjourned: 12.55

Regards: Sherry Nelson, Incoming Secretary

Meeting Minutes November 11, 2024

LCRW 11-11-2024 meeting notes

Meeting Minutes October 7, 2024

LCRW 10-07-24 meeting notes

Meeting Minutes September 9, 2024

LCRWC 9924

Meeting Minutes August 5, 2024

LCRW, 8-5-2024 meeting notes

Meeting Minutes June 3, 2024

LCRW June 3rd, 2024 meeting notes

Meeting Minutes May 6, 2024

LCRW 5-6-24 meeting notes

Meeting Minutes April 1, 2024

Tracy Sharp, LCRCC Chairman said the invocation

The group opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance

Announcements:

Aric Cooksley, the Executive Director of the Flathead Boys and Girls Club, invited the people in attendance to the Great Futures lunch in Ronan on April 16th at 12 noon. Aric volunteered to give a tour of the Polson facility to anyone interested after the meeting. Aric spoke about the Local Youth of the year club member who just won the Montana Youth of the Year award and will be representing Montana Nationally!

Cynthia Waterman, the LCRCC Membership Chair stated that 25 people have paid dues so far this year. We need everyone to help in the fight to save our country so please sign up. Cynthia left membership forms on the table – dues are $40 per year.

April 7th we will be having our 2024 Election Kick Off Event at the Ronan Community Center in Ronan from 3-6pm. We have invited all of the people running for offices that will represent Lake county at the local, state and federal levels to come to speak at the event. The “Perfect Shot” bar will be hosting the “no host” bar serving beer, wine and seltzer.

April 21st will be the Candidate Marathon Round up at the Ronan Community Center – details to be communicated soon.

The May 11 clay shoot event is canceled due to the facilities being up for sale!

Everyone help yourselves to the homemade cookies – thank you everyone who brought cookies. Any leftover cookies will be donated to the Boys & Girls Club for the kids to enjoy

Tanner Smith was the guest speaker for the meeting. Tanner is a Republican Montana Gubernatorial candidate.

Tanner states that he is not a politician. He is a 3rd generation Montanan. He came to Lakeside in 1993 to be an excavation contractor.

Tanner decided to run for the local school board when his kids were being sent to school in masks due to covid.

Tanner then ran for the Montana State Legislature in 2023 to save the world.

There are 38 true conservatives in the Montana Legislature

Gianforte works with the solutions caucus which is a group of RINOs.

We are losing America and Montana due to bad policies

There is no regulation on marijuana shops – we now have 400 shops in Montana.

When the public gets high/drunk, homelessness is prevalent. Montana spent $500 million on marijuana which is 15% of our budget

Tanner is a policy guy!

The dispensaries are going to ruin our state and our country.

The legislature tried to fix the property tax issues in the last session but the Democrats and Rinos want to keep your money. There is $200 million unclaimed property tax rebate money.

People who can work, need to work – stop the free rides. The $675 tax break was a scam to get votes. Not everyone applied for the rebate so the state kept millions of dollars.

Tanner supports a taxpayer’s bill of rights – the state will not give the money back to the taxpayers.

Gianforte plays politics with our money

HB676 – children under the age of 18 in Montana are under the parent’s care. The girl that was taken from her Dad and sent to Canada set a poor precedent.

HB797 – the conservative caucus asked for accountability of tribal money – passed both houses and Gianforte vetoed the bill. Gianforte then worked with the Democrats to stop the override veto.

The Montana Supreme Court destroys the laws made by conservatives. The Governor has the power of a pardon and could stop the Supreme Court opinions as they are only opinions – not the law. The legislature owns the laws.

Gianforte could have punished the trans insurrection that occured in the Montana capital but he let everyone off free and clear.

Gianforte is not a friend of Lake county – he vetoed PL280 legislature – intertwined with tribal issues

Tribal Government is an issue

There is a grassroots conservative Native American movement going on – they do not agree with the CSKT and tribal governments

June 2 marks the 100 year anniversary of tribal citizenship

There needs to be a firm resolute policy team – the goal is to work peacefully together.

We need to enable tribal people to be able to push back against their governments.

Tanner promises to issue a state of emergency on week one to stop illegal immigration. We can be equally as nasty as the cartel

Intimidation raids will be stopped – the state needs to protect Montana’s since the feds don’t! Tanner vows to follow the constitution.

We have so many natural resources! We can responsibly use them to pay our own way and not rely on the federal government – Montana should be sovereign.

ORACLE Act – Opening Road Access Cleaning Lines/Exits – clear cutting for fire prevention – $80 million of budget spent fighting fires vs fire prevention efforts.

Flathead Lake is a mess. Day one Tanner can make this mess go away.

If the tribe says they will do something – they will do it

Tanner has common sense – people hit a brick wall in politics. He will keep his common sense

we need more conservative legislators

Montana will stay drug free

Marijuana money will go to mental health and law enforcement

How can we help Tanner? His endorsements are a grassroots movement – endorsements help

Bruce Cartwright suggests that we get legislation passed to get retired law enforcement officers to gather up illegals and take them to a detention center. Tanner stated he is already working on this program to keep us safe. Tanner would like to seize assets to help pay for the law enforcement

Water Compact – Tanner is working with Dr Kate Vandemoer to get a better understanding of the water compact and what he would be able to do when elected. Goal is to hold it up in the water court and eliminate it. Tanner is willing to fight the watercourt – try to peacefully resolve this before it goes to war.

Tanner will have signage ready this week and will bring some to the event on Sunday

Gianforte makes mistakes. His actions need to be clearly communicated to the public

We all need to tell our friends about what Gianforte is doing

Tanner tries to get on Montana talks every 2 weeks

Tanner is tired of politics but feels compelled to run for his children.

The fight is on for our country, our freedom and our future. This is the most important election ever!

We need a hero and Tanner is that hero!

________

Meeting Minutes March 4, 2024

Meeting was called to order at 12:00

Marcia Amrine said the invocation

The group said the Pledge of Allegiance

Treasurer’s report: Current Balance is $13825.86. We have no outstanding bills

We have a PO box again – it is number 174. Please send all correspondence, dues etc to this PO Box.

Announcements:

LCRCC will be meeting on Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30pm at the Polson Rural Fire Station

Our April meeting will be held on April 1 and our guest speaker will be Gubernatorial Candidate Tanner Smith. This meeting will be held at the Polson Boys & Girls Club.

April 7 the LCRW is sponsoring the Election Kick Off event at the Ronan Community Center from 4-6. We have invited our local and state politicians and candidates to come to this event. Please share with your friends. More details will be sent out later this month.

March 8 Pachyderm meeting will be held at 12 noon at the Polson Rural Fire station. Guest Speaker will be Toni Kramer who is the Lake County Elections Administrator. Toni will be speaking about how Lake County Elections are held to ensure safe and fair elections as well as any help needed.

Our first guest speaker for the meeting is Linda Reksten who is running as HD13 candidate. Linda is currently HD12 representative but due to redistricting, Linda is now running for HD13. Linda is committed to representing the entire community – no matter what HD you are in!

Linda shared a list of some of the bills she voted for and worked on in 2023 (see attached). Linda highlighted some of the important bills – how you vote tells the story about who you are!

The state started the legislative session with an excess of $2 billion dollars

Medicaid is going to be a problem coming up – COVID resulted in an increase in Medicaid but the funds have dried up and there are no funds to pay for all of the additional people.

Heads up that a secondary property tax bill is coming! The funds will be going into the SEPTR fund which helps with school equality. All of the overage funds from the 95 mills goes to the counties.

Property taxes are appraised every 2 years.

There are 13 charter schools approved in the state.

There was a bill passed for career technical ed to help with vocational education.

There was a bill passed for proficiency based learning – hands on in field training and the student receives high school credit.

Bills give parents choices for their children.

There is now a digital academy open – kids can attend the academy and get their diploma.

Teachers beginning salaries are low causing issues with recruiting new teachers. The legislators are working with the teacher’s union to increase salaries.

There are 365 school districts in Montana – lots of one room schools.

We need to provide incentives to teachers. We are top heavy in school administration – consolidate school districts!

There was a bill passed to incentivize retired teachers to come back to work and get paid

The schools need to do a better job working together and give kids more choices.

Montna’s is currently at a 34% reading proficiency. A bill was passed, HB352, which will have kids proficient by the end of 3rd grade. There is a jump start program and home based program for parents to apply for in HB352.

We need to have a location to find the proficiency data. There are 13 states that have power school dashboards but not yet approved for Montana. Linda said the parents need to contact the Office of Public Education and request this.

Linda invited everyone to tune into the education sub-committee meetings

Our second guest speaker for the meeting was the Lake County Attorney James Lapotka

James works with the sheriff and the 14 deputies. There are currently 5 attorneys who prosecute all non-tribal misdemeanor crimes and all felonies

Today, the Lake County jail has 60 inmates and is supposed to only have 42.

There are currently 2000 warrants out

Mr. Lapotka thinks that if we do not prosecute tribal felonies, we can maintain the current infrastructure.

The County is currently doing some renovations – many offices such as the elections office, Superintendent of Schools and others will be moving over to the new annex. As a result there will be more room for judges (currently working in closets) and the jail.

The sheriff has 3 school resource officers – 1 in Polson, 1 in Ronan and 1 in South County. We also have the 911 dispatch center.

With the elimination of PL280, Governor Gianforte is giving Tribal jurisdiction back to the federal government.

The feds get involved with arrests involving 1000’s of illegal pills – county gets involved at the lower levels. Drugs/cartels are growing.

The county is currently investigating 2 babies deaths due to fentanyl poisoning.

The Federal Government takes care of the worst crimes and the states handle the lower crimes such as rape, theft, agravated assautss, domestic violence, guns, strangulation and felony DUI’s

The County is currently shiiping inmates to Arizona for the Jail renovations. Criminals who have been sentenced often sit in our jail for a few months before being moved to another jail.

The state mental hospital is full and not accepting new patients.

There is an ambulance at the jail probably 200 days a year at least which means an officer must accompany the inmate to the hospital and stay while the inmate is being evaluated and then returned to jail. The ambulance rides cost the County quite a bit of money on an annual basis.

We need to make a generational investment for our public safety and jails.

The state does not have infrastructure funds to build new jails and hospitals

the state currently pays the county $71 a day per inmate but this is nowhere near the daily cost per person.

The tribe would like to grow their sentencing options.

Without PL280, we will not have the prosecutors we currently have – we lose local control without it.

Tribal funding is through grants for the most part. The Feds will be prosecuting crimes against tribal members – the county will no longer be involved in tribal prosecutions.

We thank both of our speakers for a great meeting and education!

Meeting Minutes February 5, 2024

LCRW 2-5-24 meeting notes

Mailing address:

Central Committee Chair, Tracy Sharp, hands Dorothy Ashcraft, President of Lake County Republican Women, a well deserved award in February 2024

Membership Invitation

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“United We Stand! Divided We Fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs.” Patrick Henry